Remembering it All Wrong: The Mandela Effect

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Imagine if some things you remember are not actually true. It’s called the Mandela effect. The Mandela effect is when our brains remember something differently than it really was. It is named after Nelson Mandela, a world leader who fought for equality in South Africa, was imprisoned for his work, and later became the president of South Africa from 1994- 1999. It is named after him because many people remember him dying in prison in the 80’s, but he really died on December 5th, 2013. Many people are certain that they had seen clips on TV of his funeral before this date. Nelson Mandela’s supposed death is not the only example of common misrememberings.

Here are a few other examples that might surprise you:

Darth Vader never said,“Luke I am your father.”

We all know the most famous quote in Star Wars, “Luke I am your father,” by Darth Vader. Well, at least we thought that was how it went. The fact is that Darth Vader didn’t actually say that. What he really said was, “No, I am your father.” After the movie was released, the fake quote went viral and now most people remember it incorrectly. How did this happen? Maybe Darth Vader used the force.

“We are the champions…”

If you never heard of Queen, they were a great British band from the 1970s who have written many songs. One big hit they had was We are the Champions. They sing multiple times in the song, “We are the champions of the world.” So they must repeat that line in the end too, right? Wrong. In the end, they sing, “We are the champions,” and then the song ends. If you disagree, you are probably just remembering it wrong- it’s the Mandela Effect. Just go listen to it and see for yourself.

“Could I please have some Jiffy, mom.”

We all know the very tasty peanut butter brand, Jiffy. Or so we thought. It turns out that it’s really Jiff. Jiffy has been pinned into the minds of many and is often referred to as Jiffy peanut butter.

Monopoly man’s monocle

Many of us have played Monopoly before. If you have then you know rich Uncle Pennybags on the board and on some of the cards. Since he’s so rich, he has a bag of money, a top hat, a white mustache, and even a monocle. Wait, did I say monocle? Scratch that. The monopoly man doesn’t have a monocle; we just all seemed to remember it that way. Why? Probably because he seems like the type of guy who would have a monocle.

Gotta catch ‘em all

Pokemon is a game and a tv show. Also, kids often bought trading cards, which used to be popular. Its main mascot is Pikachu. People who love Pokemon know that Pikachu is Ash Ketchum’s pokemon. When asked to describe Pikachu, most people say that has little red circles on his cheeks and that his tail is brown at the bottom, yellow in the middle, and black at the tip. The problem is: Pikachu’s tail has no black on the end, not even a dot. The Mandela Effect strikes again, this time visually.

C-P30, the partially silver robot

C-P30 is a robot from Star Wars that was built by Anakin Skywalker. He travels with Luke Skywalker and R2-D2(another robot), and hates taking risks. He is also the color of gold but what many people forget is that he had a silver leg. This surprises those who have seen Star Wars over and over again yet they never noticed the silver leg.

Mirror on the wall

Every child knows the tale of Snow White and how the seven dwarves help her while singing the song, Hi Ho. They may also remember how the evil witch envied snow white’s beauty. Perhaps they might even recall how the witch would chant, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” to get the mirror to show her the most fairest person of all. The problem is that one of these facts isn’t exactly true. She never chanted these exact words. She actually says, “Magic mirror on the wall.” I guess the mirror’s magic made us forget.

Kit ? Kat

Kit-Kats are very tasty candy that kids love to eat. There is just one problem with a Kit-Kat bar. Kit-Kats aren’t real since there is no dash. Kit Kat fans out there who didn’t know this may have to question their fanhood.

These were just a few examples of the Mandela Effect. We seem to be forgetting a lot of things about our world, including movie lines, food brand names, and more. It seems to be weird that tons of people are all forgetting the same thing. It’s even weirder that we all misremember it the same way, too. Maybe we aren’t forgetting it. Maybe something else is happening. We don’t exactly know what the cause of the Mandela effect. Is it a conspiracy? Are we living in an alternate universe? Are our brains short circuiting? The world may never know.